After The Rain
by dratcat
Summary: Set after Wolf's Rain. Tyrin, assassin for hire, is given a job: take out the leader of the gang which has been raiding Nobles' food supplies. TsumeXOC. ON HIATUS INDEFINITELY.
1. Part 1

Disclaimer: Wolf's Rain does not belong to me. If I stole it, Tsume and his gang would probably just steal it right back.

Author's Notes: Yes, my main character is an OC. She sure does have some 'tude. Perhaps you'll like her. Read and see.

* * *

**[ AFTER THE RAIN | PART 1 ]**

She rested upon the topmost block of a pile of concrete rubble at the edge of the city. Dressed in a grey tunic and black leggings, she was unremarkable in the street. But here, she was queen. For a while, at least, before she left.

She chewed on the end of a chicken bone, making short work of the gristly knob. She sucked one more time on the sharp ragged end before throwing it down. It clacked against the ground and disappeared down a gap between two chunks of concrete.

After heaving a sigh of satisfaction, she nimbly and swiftly made her way back down the rubble and into the city. There was a man she had to find.

The building looked almost like any other. Grey, cracked and crumbling. Windows gaping black like wounds. She found the stairs to the basement and went down them.

In the basement the man stood by a desk facing away from her. He was tall and narrow, and the cloak he wore emphasised the length of his body. He smelled of expensive cologne and cedar. She stepped up to the desk chair, her feet scuffing lightly against the dusty floor, and sat down.

He turned around.

"Tyrin."

"Yes?"

"More of our food supplies have been lost to that gang of thieves. We can't reclaim it, it has most likely been sold or eaten already."

"That is likely, sir."

"But we still need to teach them a lesson."

"That sounds fine."

"I want you to find out who their leader is and take him out."

She opened her mouth, closed it, and frowned. Then she spoke: "How, sir? You have had detectives searching up and down for – "

"But that is exactly my point."

"My lord?"

"The detectives can only do so much. As a non-law operative you will have more freedom in your search. I suspect those thieves have been feeding half the city, and making rather a handsome profit too. Food is scarce here. If anyone knew where to get their hands on relatively cheap foodstuffs, do you think they would tell a detective? No. So now, I want you to do it for me. Find the leader, and kill him after getting out as much information about the operation as you can. We still have no idea how they got past our security measures so swiftly. We need to know so that we can remedy the problem better. Killing the leader will serve as warning to others." He paused. "You will be well paid."

There was only one answer. "I will do my best."

A thin smile on a thin face. "Good."

* * *

"Tsume!" the man shrieked. "His name is Tsume! Dresses in black leather, lives somewhere on the western end – "

A tightening of the rope.

"I don't know where! I swear I don't know where! Please…" His eyes bulged grotesquely. Tyrin grunted and twisted the bar again. The man's head changed shape, and there was a sickening wet, muffled crunch. She untied the man's hands from behind the chair, and his weight toppled him sideways onto the ground. Blood dripped from his ears onto the cold tile, and her nose was filled with the smell of it.

"Oh, stupid," she chided herself, and untied the headstrap before the dead man got blood all over it.

There was _hair_ stuck to it, though. She picked the strands off carefully, and hung the torture instrument back on its hook on the wall.

In the next room, she wrote the name on a piece of paper. She didn't want to forget. _Tsume. _After some thought, she added, _Western end._

* * *

She had found him, and followed him a few times, but never for long. He always seemed to know when someone was following him, and started looking as though he were suspicious. That was when she had gotten out of there.

He sure looked tough, though. The dead guy hadn't been wrong about the leather. Tyrin herself had worn leather for a while, but had found that it was just too hot, and made too much noise. Cotton was better. The man wore dark sunglasses that hid his eyes, and was covered in scars, including a massive X-shaped one on his chest that he didn't even try to hide.

He was confident, that was for sure.

Tyrin decided that if she was going to get this guy into an interrogation cell, she was going to have to lure him.

The next day, she asked the Nobleman for some spending money.

* * *

"Hm. This doesn't seem like authentic merchandise."

"What, are you kidding, lady? It's a Hoerfin scarf all right, and even if you don't believe me, it's still too good quality to pass up at the price I'm selling it to you for."

"Look here, the weave is looser. You say this is good quality? You say it is a genuine Hoerfin? I say you're bending the truth."

"Look, lady –"

"I want to speak to your supplier."

"Now listen here – "

"No, listen _here_." Tyrin leaned in closer and allowed her perfume to wrap itself gently around the old shopkeeper. "I may be doing you a favour. If you are not deceiving me, then he may be deceiving you. Now, I see you are a sensible, experienced man. Look at this." She stretched the material out in front of him. "See this, where the working has become loose. Is this to be expected in a Hoerfin? This man who sells you cheap scarves, he is making a mockery of you. Something must be done, or your reputation here shall quickly become dirt. You see?"

The man's eyes flickered between the scarf, her face, and the floor. Finally he said: "He never did seem entirely trustworthy." He sighed. "You are certain this is not the genuine article? I've only recently begun trading in clothes, you see..."

"Quite certain, sir."

"Well, I suppose there's no harm in asking him yourself. I'll put you in touch." He rubbed his mouth for a second, then added: "And if you are right about the scarves, then you are welcome to take up a job here."

Tyrin smiled. "That is most kind of you, sir. I have some errands yet to attend to. I shall speak to you again soon."

The shopkeeper watched her leave.

"Yes. If you survive insulting his goods, then happily shall I take you up in the store." He picked up the scarf on the counter, knowing full well that it was a fake, and returned it to its stand.


	2. Part 2

Disclaimer: Wolf's Rain does not belong to me. If I stole it, Tsume and his gang would probably just steal it right back.

Author's Notes: It's been a while since I was really involved in the Wolf's Rain fandom. I'll try to finish this story (I hate leaving things unfinished), but it will probably be a long and gruelling process. Sorry if I disappoint anyone.

* * *

**[ AFTER THE RAIN | PART 2 ]**

Tyrin stood outside the door of one of the gang's many hidden warehouses across the city. She knocked loudly.

"Who is it?"

"I'm here to speak with the warehouse master."

"Lady, you must be mistaken. This is no warehouse."

"Oh, but I know it is. I wish to talk to Tsume. Yolcin the shopkeeper told me to come here."

The door opened, and the man grinned. "Well, why didn't you say so?"

"I thought you might appreciate some discretion on my part, but I see subtlety is somewhat beyond you. Never mind. I would be grateful if you took me to him," she said and smiled. The man scratched the back of his head and grinned back.

"Are you sure you wouldn't like a tour of the warehouse first, miss?" He raised a brow suggestively.

"No, she wouldn't, Thad," came a deep voice from beyond the hallway. Golden glints sparked from the darkness, and the man in leather (_Tsume_, she reminded herself) stepped forward.

"Yes," she added. "I'm afraid I'm a little short on time."

"Indeed," said Tsume, and smiled. The tiny glint of teeth in that smile seemed threatening. He said, "Follow me," and turned on his heel.

In the meeting room, Tsume swung the door quietly shut and took a seat on one side of the desk.

"Now, what is your business?" he asked.

Tyrin spoke. "I had heard that Yolcin gets the majority of his stock from you. I spoke to him, and convinced him that we should meet. I told him that the goods he received were fake, which he no doubt knew, and suggested that his supplier wasn't being quite honest with him. Being a businessman, he immediately leapt upon the opportunity to keep his good reputation and told me where to find you. So here I am."

"Yes." Tsume narrowed his eyes. "But why are you here?"

"I want to join your gang."

He furrowed his brow in disbelief.

"I really am good at – "

"You lie."

Tyrin's mouth dropped.

"What?"

"You've been…" he stood, walked around the desk, and put a knife to her throat.

"…following me." She could smell his musk, and it distracted her.

However, the lie came fast.

"Well, of course, I wanted to know what I was getting into – you must be better than I thought, if you knew I was following you." The knife bit into her skin. "I'm sorry if I offended you, but I only work for the best. Make your judgment of me now – did I do well, or badly? Would I make a satisfactory employee?"

The knife retreated, but his scent stayed, clinging to her clothes.

"You did very well. I could hardly even smell you."

"Smell…me?"

His head tilted curiously. "You don't know?"

Now he was confusing her. "Know what?"

He laughed incredulously. "You really don't know. Amazing."

Tyrin felt the first twitch of anger. "Apparently not. Would you mind filling me in, oh most knowledgeable one?"

Immediately annoyance rose to Tsume's face.

"If you're going to work for me, you won't speak to me like that," he snapped.

"Fine. And if I'm going to work for you, I need to know what you're going on about." She lowered her head in submission.

His eyes rested heavily upon her for a moment. And then he spoke.

"It's incredible that you haven't yet realised. You reek of it. How could you not have realised that everything about you is so much different to everyone else – the way you move, think, smell? You are a wolf. How could you not know?"

_This guy is crazy_. "Just because I'm different doesn't mean I'm another species. And, uh, in case you haven't noticed, these are fingernails, not claws."

He raised an eyebrow. "Are they really?" Sarcastically. Like he was being spoken to by an idiot.

"Yes!…I'm not so sure I want to work for you anymore." _You crazy nutjob_.

That sharp-toothed grin.

"Oh, but you have to," he asserted. "Your instinct drove you to follow me, to come here, to be with some of your own kind. You're pathetic. You don't even know who you are, but still you follow those drives even as you deny their existence."

_Instinct. Ha. I'd say rather a fat purse of coins for your death led me here. Yes, my instinct led me straight to the money I needed._

"You seriously think I'm a wolf?"

A short bark of laughter. "I seriously know it."

"And you would know because…what, you're one too?"

"You know it."

"No…I don't." She grinned. She had this guy. "Go on, where are your claws then?"

And then she saw.

"Holy shit!"

Tsume's voice still somehow came from the grey wolf as if from a human. He panted and grinned.

"Now I may have me a believer."

Tyrin stood, and her head spun. This had to be a trick. "I'm going now, I'm going – " Tsume's full weight drove her into the ground as she reached for the door handle. She scrabbled to get up, but he had her pinned down. Her forearms were suddenly fore_legs_ and everything moved in a grey-white blur. "No!" she cried, and pulled backwards. She fell onto her haunches and flipped onto her side. She ran again for the door and scratched frantically at the unforgiving wood. _Come on need human need hands_ – and just as she saw her fingers reach out she was pinned down again even more firmly, in her human form again, by a furious grey wolf.

Tsume's teeth were so close to her face. The low growl coming from his chest made her whine in fear. He moved fast. He closed his jaws over her neck and Tyrin waited for the squeeze. She was breathing fast and her heart thumped loudly in her ear. She wondered if Tsume could feel the pulse beating in her throat.

Slowly the pressure eased, and her eyes fluttered closed in relief. There was a puff of doggy breath in her face, then Tsume's weight lifted off her body. When she opened her eyes again, Tsume stood over her in his human form. No. She curled up sideways on the hard floor and tried her best to look anywhere but at him.

She heard a drawer open in the desk, and the ruffle of paper. Squeak of chair, scratch of pen. Squeak of chair again and the sound of the door opening and closing. Lock click. _Shit_.

She stood and walked over to the desk. On the desk, next to the pen, was the notepad. It read, in a messy scrawl:

_If you don't want to work for me anymore then that's fine. Do whatever you want. But understand this: if you can't accept the fact that you have always been a wolf then your life will be meaningless. Trying to pretend you're something that you're not always ends in disappointment. If you want to learn more about who you really are, don't be so afraid of the truth. Cowards don't deserve to live, and if you are a coward, then I will kill you. Be strong for your own sake._

Tyrin sat herself down in the desk chair, the note crumpled tightly in her fist.


End file.
